"just one of those bands"
"…or because they've just become one of those bands, like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, that gets passed down without anyone saying much about it."

Cracker's Countrysides is a great car-sing-along album; and I recently pulled s/t & kerosene hat back out and good god, if I'm not loving "Happy Birthday", and "Don't Fuck Me Up (with Peace and Love)"; and yes, "Take Me Down to the Infirmary" is masterful.

MMM I whole-heartedly agree. "Ramble Tamble"'s build and kicking into the second round of the song is a great representation of the CCR.

NPR's only a game
I heard Will's interview on Only a Game on NPR about two weeks back, and he was very articulate in his arguments about this; also about the dominance of ESPN. I believe you can get it from their website in podcast form.

dead milkmen
Noel,
seeing as how you, too, had a teenage Dead Milkmen phase (which I never really grew out of), I trust that this means they'll pop up in a future column. Beelzebubba and Metaphysical Graffiti are really classics; moreso to me than Big Lizard. I think "If You Love Somebody (Set Them on Fire)" sums them…

what does this matter?
In 30 years, this will all be on the oldies station anyway; indie rock and punk.

ploy
so her husband's band is called The Cringe — is this just a ploy because his band didn't get into SXSW/in order to get him more exposure?

mmm, i'd love to just have hours of hank being played, with "i'm so lonesome i could cry" as they lowered my coffin into the ground, and then 'i saw the light' on the way back to my kick-ass party